page_title: The College of New Jersey
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: The College of New Jersey / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Green Hall at TCNJ. Taken by Mr. Green in the study with an Olympus E-1
context_page_description: The College of New Jersey is a public university in Ewing, New Jersey. TCNJ was established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School. The institution was the first normal school in the state of New Jersey and the fifth in the United States. Originally located in Trenton proper, the college was moved to its present location in adjacent Ewing Township during the early to mid-1930s. Since its inception, TCNJ has undergone several name changes, the most recent being the 1996 change to its current name from Trenton State College.
  TCNJ is a selective institution, with a stated mission to keep New Jersey's most talented students in-state for higher education. TCNJ aims to combine the best practices of private institutions with a public mission, resulting in an innovative and unique model for undergraduate education. The college encourages free inquiry and open exchange, offering a wide range of learning opportunities in its classrooms, laboratories and studios throughout the campus, as well as at various off-campus locations.
  The institution is organized into seven schools, all of which offer bachelor's degree programs and several of which offer targeted master's degree programs.
context_section_description: The College of New Jersey was established on February 9, 1855 by an act of the New Jersey Legislature mandating the creation of a state normal school, making the New Jersey State Normal School the first teacher training institution in New Jersey and the ninth in the United States. Prior to this, then-Governor Rodman McCamley Price had actively promoted the notion of founding a training institute for New Jersey's teachers and helped to mobilize support among influential state leaders: 
  I recommend the establishment of a school for the education of teachers, similar to the schools established in many of the states, which are deemed to exert a most useful and beneficial influence in the cause of education in public estimation.
  — Rodman McCamley Price, statement, January 1855
  For the first 73 years, the school was located in Trenton on Clinton Avenue. Beginning in 1925, the institution offered its first four-year baccalaureate degrees, and engaged on a transitional program of expansion. In 1928, a suburban tract of 210 acres (0.8 km²) was purchased in Ewing Township, New Jersey and preparations were underway to relocate the College. The first building erected on the new campus was Green Hall, built in traditional Georgian colonial style. The majority of buildings now on campus reflect Green Hall's architecture. In 1996, in a move spearheaded by Harold Eickhoff, The College of New Jersey adopted its current name.
  Programs in graduate study were instituted in 1947, followed by accreditation from various national associations in the 1950s. The enactment of the Higher Education Act of 1966 paved the way for TCNJ to become a comprehensive institution by expanding its degree programs into a variety of fields aside from the education of teachers. By 1972, 70 percent of entering students were selecting non-education majors.
  Names
  1855 — New Jersey State Normal School
  1908 — New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton
  1929 — New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton
  1937 — New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton
  1958 — Trenton State College
  1996 — The College of New Jersey
caption: Green Hall
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